People seem to forget the 1983 Philadelphia Phillies. How often do you hear them talked about in conjunction with the other pennant winners in Phillies history?
No one remembers the 1915 team anymore, but the 1950 Whiz Kids were famous; they got the first line in Terry Cashman’s Talkin’ Baseball. The ‘80 team won it all; the ‘93 team got parodied on Saturday Night Live; the ‘08 team won it again; the ‘09 team went back-to-back; and ‘22 was just four years ago.
The ‘83 team, though—the Wheez Kids—who ever talks about them?
This was a team that had three first-ballot Hall of Famers in Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, and Joe Morgan, plus Pete Rose and Tony Perez, who made it on his ninth ballot. The youngest of those five was Schmidt, age 33, and the next youngest, Carlton, was a spry 38 when the season began.
Though only three years removed from the Phillies’ last championship, there had been a huge amount of turnover. Gone were Bake McBride, Bob Boone, Greg Luzinski, Lonnie Smith, Larry Bowa, Manny Trillo, Bob Walk, Dickie Noles, and Kevin Saucier. The Phillies replaced almost all of them with other veterans like Bo Diaz, Ivan De Jesus (whom Philadelphia traded future Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg for), and Al Holland, among a few youngsters like Von Hayes and Charlie Hudson.
So, it was a great surprise when the Phillies' tired bodies recovered after a 45-47 start to finish 90-72-1 and clinch first place by seven games in the NL East.
Masterful pitching by Carlton and Cy Young winner John Denny in the NLCS helped the Phillies dispatch the Los Angeles Dodgers to secure the fourth pennant in franchise history. An absolutely titanic blast followed by an all-time pimp job from Gary “Sarge” Matthews in Game 4 helped propel the Phillies too.
How to lose a forgettable World Series
Their World Series counterparts, the Baltimore Orioles, were powered by veterans too, with one notable exception. 22-year-old Cal Ripken Jr. was fresh off a 1982 Rookie of the Year campaign and took home AL MVP honors in '83.
Their franchise cornerstone was blossoming, the Phillies was fading.
After a 2-1 victory by the Phils in Game 1, with solo shots hit by Morgan and 34-year-old Garry Maddox, the Orioles never lost another game, winning four straight to clinch the series on this date 43 years ago.
The Phillies blew leads in Games 2, 3, and 4 before going down quietly, 5-0, in Game 5 at Veterans Stadium to give the Orioles their third, and to this date, final World Series title.
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